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Professionals by day, heroes by night

Rescue squad recruitment drive under way

Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005

Click here to enlarge this photo Susan Whitney-Wilkerson⁄The Gazette Bullis third-graders Dariah Manesh (left), 7, Blair Signora, 8, and Brady Walter, 9, enthusiastically offer to solve a math problem for their teacher Kendall Sanderson. Sanderson said that her training as a paramedic for the B-CC rescue squad has helped her in the classroom. Click here to enlarge this photo Charlie Shoemaker⁄The Gazette Kendall Sanderson is an Emergency Medical Service captain on the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad. Devoting nearly 40 hours a week to her volunteer position, she also is a third grade teacher.

A teacher at The Bullis School in Potomac, Sanderson, 36, is also an Emergency Medical Service captain on the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad.

But the North Bethesda resident has no problem reconciling her two roles.

‘‘I have such a strong passion for both,” she said. ‘‘Even if you’re tired, when you work with third-graders, you wake up.”

The squad, manned almost entirely by volunteers, provides free emergency fire, rescue and ambulance services to Bethesda, Chevy Chase and upper Northwest Washington, D.C.

Sanderson is one of about 150 active volunteers on the squad. The majority live in Bethesda, Chevy Chase and other nearby communities, said B-CC Rescue Squad board member Kumar Vaswani.

Among them are research scientists, college students, government workers and real estate agents. He said the squad attracts professionals because of its high level of service and quality of training.

As a paramedic, Sanderson works a 12-hour overnight shift each week from 6 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday.

In addition, she is in charge of recruitment and membership so she puts in even more time on weekends.

To volunteer The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad is currently recruiting volunteers. New members are required to work at least 12 hours per week plus training. The squad will also close its fall fund drive at the end of the month. For more information about contributing or volunteering, call 301-657-5557 or visit www.bccrs.org.

‘‘I work 30 or 40 hours a week,” she said. ‘‘It’s really another job for me.”

The squad started a recruitment drive this month, Sanderson said. It currently gets about five new members each month. She would like to see that increase to 10 per month.

For new members, the minimum duty requirements are 12 hours per week, plus training.

‘‘More than half [of the volunteers] had no experience when they started,” Sanderson said. ‘‘It’s very challenging your first year.”

The squad is one of the busiest in the area. It responds to approximately 30 calls per day and last year responded to more than 11,000 incidents, Vaswani said.

But to Brooke Davies, a lawyer, the time commitment is worth it.

‘‘For something you love, you make time,” she said. ‘‘Employers and friends are impressed and surprised that people are willing to devote so much time to an organization.”

Sanderson said that her students certainly are impressed with her extra-curricular activities.

‘‘The students really love it,” she said. ‘‘It’s important to be a role model for them, to be a volunteer and give back to the community.”

In addition to providing ambulance, medic and rescue services to the community, the squad also provides volunteers like Sanderson with a sense of fulfillment from helping out their neighbors and with skills they can use in their professional careers.

‘‘Both my jobs help each other,” she said. ‘‘My experience at the rescue squad has helped me see things in terms of the big picture, in other words, what is a true emergency. No matter what happens in my school day, I know it’s not that big a deal and I can show the kids that we can keep calm and deal with it.”

On the other hand, she said her training as a paramedic prepared her to know what to do in case of a real emergency at school.

Another volunteer, Richard Fleischer, 33, said his eight years as a firefighter and emergency medical technician on the squad had a part in his decision to change his career. Formerly a biotech researcher, Fleischer is now a graduate student at the University of Maryland in public policy.

‘‘I decided recently to pursue a career in emergency management,” he said. ‘‘[Volunteering with the squad] definitely influenced my career choice.”

Davies, 29, also said that her experience on the squad has helped her career as a lawyer.

‘‘I was 19 when I joined,” she said. ‘‘It caused me to grow in ways I don’t think I would have. Immediately you become an adult.”

She said it taught her to be in charge and manage people.

‘‘It’s a huge benefit in the real world and the business world,” she said. ‘‘It’s been a big help to my professional career.”

Davies, a Silver Spring resident who grew up in Chevy Chase, has volunteered with the squad for 10 years.

She now serves as a master firefighter, emergency medical technician and ambulance driver.

‘‘It’s just wonderful serving the community,” she said.

The squad’s annual operating budget is $1.5 million. Almost all of that comes from community donations, Vaswani said. Other funding sources are grants from foundations, businesses and state and federal government. The squad is currently in the middle of its fall fund drive, which will last through the month.